Top of the News

Wednesday

Dec 30, 2009 at 6:00 AM

NEW YORK ó Johnson & Johnson is expanding a voluntary recall of Tylenol Arthritis Caplets due to consumer reports of a moldy smell that can cause nausea and sickness.

According to a statement posted to the Food and Drug Administration Web site late Monday, the New Brunswick, N.J., company is now recalling all product lots of the Arthritis Pain Caplet 100 count bottles with the red EZ-Open Cap.

Johnson & Johnson had recalled five lots of the product last month after consumers complained of a musty, mildew-like odor that triggered nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea.

The health care company said the odor results from trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole. That chemical is believed to result from the breakdown of another chemical used to treat wooden pallets that transport and store packaging materials.

The recall only affects the specific lots cited. All other Tylenol arthritis pain products remain available.

The company will reintroduce Tylenol Arthritis Pain Caplets 100 count by January, after moving production to a new facility.

Consumers seeking a refund or replacement can call J&J at (888) 222-6036.

The unit posted $16 billion in sales in 2008, according to J&Jís annual report.

JACKSON, Miss. ó Six children and three adults killed in a Mississippi apartment fire died of smoke inhalation, and their deaths were an accident, the coroner said Tuesday.

Investigators, meanwhile, were still working to figure out what sparked the blaze early Monday morning in the east Mississippi town of Starkville, killing several family members taken in because they had nowhere else to go.

Oktibbeha County Coroner Michael Hunt ordered autopsies on the three adults and said the children would have been examined if anything abnormal was found. Autopsies were not needed for the kids, he said.

The victims were India Williams, 25, and her three children, along with her cousin, Castella ďMariaĒ Bell, 18, and her three children. The ninth victim was 20-year-old Lakesha Gillespie, identified by the West Memorial Funeral Home as a friend. The children were ages 6 months to 6 years.

Richard Vasser, the father of two of Williamsí children, had returned from Iraq on Christmas Eve to his base in Missouri and was traveling to Mississippi on Tuesday to prepare for the burial of his sons, said Vasserís mother, Katherine Key.

NEW YORK ó New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says security for the upcoming trial of the Sept. 11 terror attack suspects will cost much more than the initial estimate of $75 million.

Kelly drafted a security plan Dec. 18 for the upcoming trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in New York federal court. The men have been charged with war crimes. Kelly says the costs will considerably exceed $75 million, but he would not say how much more. The initial estimate was given Nov. 18.

The NYPD says there arenít enough officers to handle trial security, so much of the cost will come from overtime and it will be impossible to accomplish without federal funds.

There is no trial date yet. No decision has been made on how the cost will be paid.

SAO PAULO ó Brazilian doctors have decided not to immediately remove nine of the 31 needles found in a toddlerís body because his life is no longer in danger.

Dr. Roque Aras said Tuesday that the remaining needles are small and donít pose a significant threat. Aras isnít ruling out future operations, however.

The 2-year-old boy had his third surgery in 10 days on Monday to extract four needles from his neck. Doctors removed 14 more from his intestines, liver and bladder last week, and four from near his heart and lungs earlier.

Police accuse the boyís stepfather, Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, and his lover of attempted murder, though prosecutors have not yet filed charges.

Magalhaes told Globo TV he wanted to kill the child to spite his wife.